Santa Clara County leaders may exert more power over the Office of Education, whose elected board voted to fire its controversial superintendent, Mary Ann Dewan.
The Board Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4-0 to look into whether it should decide who sits on the countywide school district’s Board of Education. Supervisor Susan Ellenberg recused herself, with her husband representing the former superintendent in her fight to be reinstated.
Supervisors also directed the county’s top lawyer, Tony LoPresti, to come back in January with options on making the county superintendent of schools an elected position rather than an appointed decision by trustees.
Much is unclear about the ramifications of the different potential decisions. Voters are about to select a handful of trustees this November, as well as two new members on the board of supervisors who will be in office by the time the discussion returns to the board.
It comes after Dewan’s Oct. 2 firing stoked uproar across the county. Dewan has challenged her firing, arguing her elected bosses violated state open meeting laws in their decision to terminate her. Dewan’s request to be reinstated has been denied by the Santa Clara County Superior Court.
Supervisors Otto Lee and Cindy Chavez brought the idea forward for board discussion. Lee said he intended to provide a public forum for all the issues happening at the office of education.
“That forum has not been available at the board of education,” Lee said at the meeting.
He denied requesting the discussion to reinstate Dewan as superintendent.
Supervisors indicated they wouldn’t need voter approval to make the school board an appointed body and gain more of a say over the office of education’s leadership. But changing the superintendent from a board-appointed position to an elected one would be up to county voters. That window passed for this year’s election and — to avoid a costly special election — voters would potentially have to wait until the 2026 primary.
LoPresti said the county’s current laws are “silent” as to what would happen to the school board’s current elected officeholders if the governance structure changed. Lopresti was also uncertain about whether supervisors could impose term limits on the board of education.
“Folks are going to want to know whether or not there is likely to be a new board in place or whether that’s a process that takes place literally over the course of four years, given we will (have just elected) new board members,” Supervisor Joe Simitian said at the meeting.
Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said the idea puts the board in a “precarious” position.
“Like many of you I’m really shocked by what I’m hearing in terms of the decision to fire Dr. Dewan,” Arenas said at the meeting. “What I do know and expect is that the Santa Clara County Office of Education operates at the highest level it can function. We rely so much on these services that our children need.”
Office of education employees showed up to the meeting to speak in support of Dewan.
One employee, San Jose resident Jennifer Mutch, supported supervisors’ possible expansion of power and said Dewan’s firing has tested the community’s trust in the county school office.
“The board of education trustees repeatedly acted outside their jurisdiction and there’s currently a lack of oversight,” Mutch said.
But Dewan has also faced criticism. In recent years, she came under fire over workplace safety and lack of resources for special education teachers and students.
The board of education appointed an interim superintendent, Charles Hinman, on Oct. 16 — while it searches for a permanent replacement.
Supporters of Dewan are demanding a grand jury investigation into her firing.
A 2018 county civil grand jury report stated the board of education had a high turnover rate for superintendents, with Dewan being the fifth leader to hold the position in the past 17 years. The report said this suggested trustees disagree with the decisions made by superintendents they themselves appointed, such as charter school approvals.
Jeffrey I. Levin was a member of the grand jury at the time. He referred San José Spotlight to the 2018 report which proposed superintendents be elected rather than appointed in order to combat internal strifes.
“What’s been going on these last few weeks is a proofpoint that we need to elect our superintendent and not allow these million-dollar shenanigans to go on,” he previously said. “I am ashamed at what our board trustees are doing. We can’t trust a board that operates in this fashion.”
Story last updated at 5:27 p.m. Original story published at 4:58 p.m.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.